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Most Socceroos fans have reacted to our tough 2014 World Cup draw either with humorous over-optimism or by noting that we were never going to do well anyway.
While it’s easy for fans to find ways to cope with the horror show, spare a thought for Ange Postecoglou.
The national team coach has to find a way to prepare our team to perform as well as possible against three very tough opponents.
Tradition dictates that in the lead-up to a World Cup, and teams will try and play opponents of a similar standard and style as those they will face in the tournament itself.
That means Australia could be in for some big friendlies in the next six months. There’s definitely no point preparing for Spain with games against Singapore or New Zealand.
It’s already been implied by Postecoglou and the FFA that the team will be looking at one or two games in Europe early in 2014, and either a one-off match or two-game series in Australia as a now traditional ‘farewell’ to a side almost entirely made up of players who don’t live in Australia.
The two nations immediately spring to mind when seeking out European opponents are Portugal and Belgium.
You may immediately assume that this is just playing to geographic stereotypes by picking the closest bordering nations to two sides we’ve been drawn against.
But there’s a catch; Portugal offer ideal preparation for playing Holland, while Belgium could be great practice for Spain.
Portugal is a well organised side that rely on brilliance from their star man Cristiano Ronaldo, or to a lesser extent Nani to single-handedly turn possession into goals.
Midfield playmakers such as Philippe Coutinho are primarily there to release the danger-men. Holland similarly is a side capable of nice passing football, but it’s not exactly tiki-taka.
Ultimately the chances come from surging runs from the likes of Arjen Robben or Robin van Persie following lead-up work from the genuinely classy Rafael van der Vaart.
Spain is a more unique side in international football, with their now trademark passing game based on the unique opportunity to pick an entire midfield brought up through Barcelona’s youth system.
Belgium isn’t identical, but they are a team that has access to a super-talented midfield group all playing at top clubs in Europe.
In qualifying Belgium scored 18 goals, but their top scorer was a midfielder with Kevin de Bruyne scoring four. In fact 10 goals were contributed by the midfield, with just four coming from strikers Romelu Lukaku and Christian Benteke.
The extra reason we might look to Belgium and Portugal for friendlies is that we actually have something to offer them in return.
Whether we like it or not, the world sees us as a physical and competitive side built primarily in the image of our colonial master England.
Portugal plays two sides that were also formed as colonies of England in Ghana and the USA. They also match-up against a Germany side that combines sublime technical quality with more than a hint of raw strength.
Belgium have been drawn with Algerian and Russian sides that will be organised and solid defensively, but lacking in individual superstars in attack.
They’ll also play a Korean side that thanks to our presence in Asia we can provide some sort of benchmark against.
Italy, having been drawn with England, may also seek us out but with no other British sides, no New Zealand and no Scandinavian sides in the World Cup our perceived style becomes a little bit unique in the Finals (perhaps a sign that physical and direct teams are simply not succeeding in modern football).
It’s hard to see South or Central American sides travelling away from their home bases to prepare for a tournament in Brazil, so the options are further limited.
We can probably expect to prepare for the South American conditions with one or two build-up games in Brazil itself.
This is where we can prepare for our match with Chile and I might expect that names like Uruguay, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico or even unqualified Paraguay or Venezuela will come up here.
I’d tip Uruguay, who already have history with us and will be playing England in the tournament.
Therefore, my final prediction is this; a friendly in Portugal against Cristiano Ronaldo and co early in 2014, a two-match series against Belgium towards the end of the 2013-14 European season and a match against Uruguay at a neutral venue in Brazil in the lead-up to the tournament commencing. All very exciting prospects!
The key matter for us should be avoiding the easy option of friendlies against our Asian neighbours, because that simply won’t be adequate preparation for our very tough assignment in Brazil.
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